The Curse of Moonacre
by jackfrostishot
Summary: Thirteen moons after the fateful day Maria Merryweather saves Moonacre Valley, the moon pearls regained their power. Now it's her wedding day and the Coeur du Noir and Sir Benjamin try to take the pearls. So Maria puts a destruction curse on the valley, and before Robin can stop her, she vanishes. Now Robin must try to find her before the thirteenth moon rises and stop the curse.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Thirteen moons. That's how long it had been after the 5,000th moon curse until the pearls, embedded into the front of Maria Merryweather's dress, had regained their power.

It hadn't taken long for Maria to pick them out of her dress and restring them onto their chain.

Now, four years after the fateful day she lifted the curse, it was her wedding day with her beloved, Robin du Noir. Slipping on the wedding dress of the first Moon Princess, Maria twirled in front of the mirror. She was gorgeous. Picking up the moon pearls, she studied them for a moment before putting them on.

She ducked through the door of her tower room and hurried down to the ballroom, where her uncle, Sir Benjamin Merryweather, waited to escort to her husband-to-be.

"How do I look, uncle?" she asked excitedly, twirling before her uncle.

"Beautiful, dear," he told her, kissing her on the cheek. "I can't believe you're getting married already. It seems like yesterday that you were tiny little Maria, scared of her own shadow."

As he walked her up the aisle, Robin smiled at Maria. She smiled back as she took her place in front of him. Loveday, her Matron of Honor, sniffled happily at the sight of the seventeen year old redhead in the trailing white dress.

Before the vows were spoken, she pulled off her pearl necklace and held it up before the mixed crowd of du Noirs and Merryweathers. "Three years ago, thirteen moons after the curse was lifted, the moon pearls regained their power!" The people gasped. As Robin stared at her, he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.

He leaped to protect his new wife, but he was too late. His father, the Coeur du Noir, as well as Sir Benjamin, lunged for the pearls. Shocked, Maria stumbled back.

Suddenly, Maria knew what she had to do, though it would break her heart. "Enough! If this is what I get for the love I have shown to you, I must counter your hate. If, in thirteen moons, you still cannot love, this valley and all those in it will be destroyed. However, if someone with enough love in their hearts to be the Moon Prince is willing to sacrifice for those he loves, the curse shall be lifted."

With a cry, she fell backwards, off the edge of the amphitheater to the ocean below.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sorry I forgot an author's note on the prologue. This is my first published fic. Not the first one I've written, though. I discovered after I published the first chapter that I made the mistake of saying the pearls were in Maria's bodice. Just assume they're new pearls that embedded themselves in her bodice after the original pearls returned to the sea and that they were powerless until thirteen moons after the lifting of the curse. R&R! Thanks!**

Chapter One

Robin was sobbing in Maria's room. He had gotten in through Loveday's secret passage.

"Oh, blast it! Why'd she have to do this to me?!" he asked himself. He fell silent then, thinking about why.

A half hour later, it hit him. She hadn't done it to hurt him. She had done it to try to make their families see sense. It would have broken her heart to hurt him.

With that conclusion, he was faced with something else: where to find Maria so that he could persuade her to lift the curse and save the valley. He could only hope she had once more survived the drop to the ocean.

Maria was, fortunately, very much alive. As she had plummeted from the edge of the amphitheater she had twisted in midair and swan dived into the ocean. As she looked around, her unicorn pointed her to a tunnel. She swam in and came out in the tunnel system under the hollow tree the pearls had been hidden in.

As she walked towards the room inside the tree, she wondered if she had made the right choice. Could she bear to see her home destroyed? She didn't think so.

"I'll just not watch," Maria thought out loud as she opened the secret door, though she knew she was lying to herself. It was the sort of thing that would be impossible not to watch. And it would shatter the fragments of her already broken heart to see Robin… No. She would not think about it.

She changed out of her wet wedding gown and into one of the Moon Princess's dresses. Grabbing a dusty old copy of _The Chronicles of Moonacre_, she opened the book and began to read. A small smile appeared on her face as she thought about the lifting of the curse.

Two days after it happened, Robin had come up to her and told her he loved her. She remembered his exact words. _'Um, well, I, er…Can I talk to you?'_ She had said yes, of course. _'I, well, I love you. Have since the moment I met you in the forest letting out that rabbit.'_ It had been quite a shock to Maria. She wasn't mad or anything, though. In fact, she loved him back. She had told him so in no uncertain terms. _'So, um, when we're old enough, would you marry me?'_ It had taken her about two seconds to say _'Yes!'_

She laughed just thinking about it. A seventeen year old boy asking a fourteen year old girl to marry him someday must have been quite the sight. No wonder she was giggling.

Yet she grew serious once more as she thought about the curse she had laid upon her valley. Perhaps she _had_ made a mistake after all…

Robin ran through the woods towards the ocean. He was going to search the area for any sign of her. Footprints on the beach, a pearl left behind, _anything_ so long as it was Maria's. He had to find something to lead him to her.

She _had_ to be alive. She just _had_ to. If she wasn't, he didn't know what he would do. Probably something drastic, like follow her to her watery, though hopefully nonexistent, grave.

As Robin searched the beach, he almost gave up. There was nothing, nothing at all. He was about to head to amphitheater to jump to the sea below when he saw something that relieved and terrified him at the same time.

A single white slipper, carried by the waves towards the shore.

Robin leapt into the water and swam to the general area that Maria would have plummeted into the water. Taking a deep breath, he dove down, down, down.

Opening his eyes, Robin searched the water for any sign of her. Nothing. He nearly sighed, then caught himself. He probably couldn't make it to the top if he let his air out. He wasn't going to risk it.

But then a flicker of movement caught his eye. It was the unicorn. How it could breathe underwater, he did not know. He followed it anyways.

It led him to a tunnel and used its muzzle to point into the tunnel. He willingly swam up it, as it led upwards and he was out of air. As Robin stuck his head out of the water, he took a deep breath of air. Walking up the tunnel, he soon entered one of the tunnels he and Maria had explored. As he shook his hair dry, he wondered how they had not noticed it before.

It didn't really mater, though. As long as he found Maria, he would be content. _I must find Maria_, he thought to himself. _That's the most important thing._ He prayed she would be in the tree-room as he slid the secret door open…


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: OMG! I have a review! YES! Thank you**, **MusicalLover17! You get three cookies, two brownies, and a handful of blueberries! (::)(::)(::)[::][::](*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) As another reward, you shall get your update. I'm sorry it took so long. It was a failed effort at making the chapter longer. *sighs* It's about as long as the prologue. :/ And in case someone out there, like my sister who read this fic, is wondering if I've got anything against Sir Benjamin, since I made him go for the pearls too, no, I do not. I just thought it would be better for two people to go for the pearls. I have also discovered it is De Noir, not Du Noir. I'm still doind Du Noir, though. It looks better in print. -JFIH**

Chapter Two

Maria whirled around as the secret door creaked open. "Who's there?" she called, scared of what the answer might be.

"It's me," said Robin as he through the door and into the secret room.

"Robin!" the redhead cried as she flung her arms around her much taller fiancée. She had grown, of course, over the past four years, but Robin had shot above her in no time. "I'm so glad you're here!" she said in the midst of a fog of tears.

"I missed you too," he said, caressing her head. "I was so worried about you. Don't _ever_ scare me like that again! I don't know what I'd do if you- if you-" He couldn't get the words out as he tried to swallow around the lump in his throat.

"If I died?" Maria said gently. He nodded, fresh sobs rising in his throat. Maria walked him over to the bed and sat down beside him, rubbing his back gently in an attempt to comfort him. She had never seen any man cry so hard before, and she doubted she would again. "Robin, I didn't. That's what's important."

"But what if you had?" he sniffled. "I can't live without you."

"And I couldn't live without you," she told him. "Which is why we've got to find a way to stop that curse. If only I had waited till I had calmed down!" Ruefully, she sighed. There was no use wishing about what had already happened.

"Do you think you could?" Robin asked. He didn't care so much about his father, who had treated him like he was nothing, even abused him, but Loveday, Sir Benjamin, Marmaduke, Digweed, Miss Heliotrope… He couldn't let them die. "We've got to save them!"

Maria closed her eyes and concentrated. For a moment she felt a slight tugging sensation, like the curse would be lifted, yet it was gone as quickly as it came. Finally she opened her eyes and heaved a sigh of despair.

"It's no use," she told her fiancée ruefully. "I can't lift it. It can only be lifted in the conditions I gave when I created it."

"Then we're going to lift it that way," Robin said determinedly. "I can't let them die. I could never forgive myself."

"I could never forgive myself either. And I have a plan," Maria said. "Promise you'll listen. Just promise!"

"I promise," he said after a moment's hesitation, as Maria's plans were usually dangerous to her health.

"Now do I have to drop you on your head?" she asked teasingly.

"No!" Robin said quickly. "You don't! My head _still_ feels like it's swelling!"

"But it was like that before!" Maria said innocently. "It isn't my fault you're an arrogant so and so!"

"What?!" he said in mock outrage. "Have you met yourself yet?"

Maria gasped, faking indignation. "The nerve! After all I've done for you! I've even baked you cookies!"

They laughed together. It felt good to laugh, and little did they know that it might be the last laugh they'd share for a long time…


End file.
